Tjanpi (meaning wild harvested grass) began in 1995 as a series of basket-making workshops facilitated by NPY Women’s Council in the Ngaanyatjarra Lands of WA.

Women wanted meaningful and culturally appropriate employment on their homelands so as to better provide for their families. Building upon a long history of using natural fibres to make objects for ceremonial and daily use, women took quickly to coiled basketry and were soon sharing their new found skills with relatives and friends on neighbouring communities. It was not long before they began experimenting with producing sculptural forms. Today there are over 400 women across three states making spectacular contemporary fibre art from locally collected grasses and working with fibre in this way has become a fundamental part of Central and Western Desert culture.